Identifying with Israel

I’m a regular American teenager about to go to camp. How do I feel Israel’s struggle during this time of war?

I live in America. I read about the war in Israel almost every day. I want to feel a part of it, but I’m going to camp and going shopping and meeting with friends and it doesn’t feel like anything is different. I want to feel Israel’s war struggle, but I don’t, and I feel really bad about that. Also, I want to do something for the war effort, but I’m far away in America and I’m not doing anything. What can I do?

Lauren Roth's Answer

First of all, give yourself kudos and credit for wanting to feel with your brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. Wanting to do the right thing counts as doing the right thing in Jewish philosophy. So you’re already on the right track. Celebrate that victory.

The Hasidic yeshivos of Viznitz, Sanz, Belz, and Ger in Israel all cancelled vacation this summer; their students believe that their learning Torah supports the Israeli soldiers and the war effort, so they will be learning Torah in the merit of all the soldiers over the next few weeks. Their approach is one you, too, can take, all the way over in America, across the world from Israel and its army. You, too, can minimize your fun – just a drop – and increase your acts of kindness and increase your prayers on behalf of Israel and the young men fighting the war.

I would encourage you to observe two moments of silence a day; one when you wake up, and one when you are about to go to sleep. During that minute, think on the soldiers. Pray on their behalf. Ask God to protect them as they battle evil for the sake of the safety of Israel and for the sake of the security of the entire free world.

Also, any time you do a good deed – and try to do many of them per day – think to yourself, “This is in the merit of the safety of the soldiers.”

Maybe on your way to meeting your friends, think about the soldiers for a moment and pray for their safe return to the ordinary world of meeting friends. Maybe in the mall, think about the soldiers for a moment and pray that they can return soon to the ordinary world of buying a sweater or purchasing a new pair of shoes.

Helping yourself stay aware of the young men fighting evil on our behalf, and spiritually supporting them, will make you a part of the war effort.

There are also more official means. An organization called “The Shmira Project” (in English, that means “The Protection Project”) pairs people who want to pray and do good deeds on behalf of a particular soldier with Hebrew names of actual soldiers. Then any good deed or prayer or Torah learning you do anytime helps spiritually protect a soldier in the field. You can sign up at http://shmiraproject.com/en-us/home.aspx.

It might help you to feel connected to the soldiers by choosing someone in your life who mirrors them – a 20-something-year old boy – and realize that anytime you think “Israeli soldier,” you really mean your Josh, or your Mike, your Max, your Isaac…. “The Israeli soldiers” are not a foreign enclave; they are the mirror of the young Jewish boys we know and love. They are someone’s son, someone’s father, someone’s brother, someone’s fiancé.

It’s also really important to realize that any good person who is suffering – whether it be a soldier fighting a war, a friend battling cancer, a family member going through a divorce, a neighbor losing a loved one – any good person who is suffering generally does not want other people to suffer, too. If I am having a difficult time in my life, the last thing I want is for other people to be having difficulties, too. Yes, if I’m going through a tough time, I want people to care about me. Yes, if I’m suffering, I don’t want people blithely and insensitively throwing their happiness in my face. BUT, if I am a good person, I really want my friends and neighbors and fellow Jews to be happy and trouble-free, even if I’m having a hard time.

Keeping a prayerful awareness of the soldiers and our brothers and sisters in Israel and what they’re going through as you go through your day would be ideal. Increasing the good deeds that you do on their behalf, sending “spiritual support” via your thoughts and intentions as you do the good deeds on their behalf would be wonderful. Stopping twice a day to think of Israel and the people there and to send up a prayer for them would be powerful.

I also think you could tell your friends about the ideas I’ve mentioned here. A part of your “meeting with friends” could be your helping them be aware of the situation in Israel, too. They might be staunch supporters of Israel and benefit from your mechanisms of connecting to the situation there. If they are detractors from Israel, you might actually feel more connected to the Israeli war effort when you hear them dissing it. It’s interesting how we humans work: if you’re not feeling as connected to the situation in Israel as you want to feel, and you encounter people who criticize Israel and its actions, you might actually feel more loyal and more connected to it!

If you also want to help in a political or monetary way, you can contact your local AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) chapter, or take a look at the AIPAC website (http://www.aipac.org/) to see how you can help. The Hasbara Fellowship is another great option (visit: http://www.hasbarafellowships.org/). Even as a teen you can help.

A word about prayer, good deeds, and Torah learning: know that any of those endeavors, done on behalf of someone or something, will in and of themselves make you feel more connected to the object of your giving. Also, know that no prayer, no good deed, no dedicated learning goes to waste. Any good generated in the world, says Jewish philosophy, improves the world and dampens evil’s power.

Featured at Aish.com:

About the Author

Lauren Roth, MSW, LSW, is a graduate of Princeton University, a Marriage and Parenting Therapist in private practice in Lakewood, New Jersey, and an inspirational speaker across North America and on the high seas. Mrs. Roth and her husband, Rabbi Dr. Daniel Roth, are the parents of six children.

The pieces of advice in the article may help many of us here in Israel too to make our support of the soldiers more dedicated and purposeful, thanks again.

(2)
scott,
August 5, 2014 6:41 AM

We could really use one more Israeli

Prayer is a good thing. More prayer is a good thing. But prayers did not build Israel. A bunch of doers got on boats and horses and simply walked halfway across the western world to make it a reality. . Prayer mated with action produces results. I would personally appreciate if the yeshivahs instead of cancelling vacation to sit and study more took their strong, young Jewish souls, put on uniforms and stood a post. An Army armed with rifles and protected by kippot and tzitzit and tefelin...that's what Davids army must have looked like-except with swords and shields. What if these good Jews serving alongside the religious slackers set an example and started a trend? More observant soldiers. Might be a good thing.

I seriously doubt that there was a sit home and study brigade during the building of Israel....but I digress.

If you truly want to help Israel...steel your determination and prepare for Aliyah when you become of age. . There are concrete things you can do today to achieve this.

1. Learn Hebrew. Become fluent in modern Hebrew. Speak it as often as you can. Start a group of friends that speak primarily in Hebrew when together.2. Prepare yourself to be a contributor when you get here: do well in school, take care of your health-physical and spiritual, get a good practical education-lots of math and science, learn as much as you can about IDF service, the Aliyah process, and life in Israel. 3. Make friends with Israelis and those that are planning Aliyah. Build a network that can help you when you make your move. Avoid making life plans that do not include Aliyah.4. Include your family in this process-ask them why the whole family can't go. If they can't ask for their emotional support.5. Commit not to say those dreaded words: I can....as soon as I do this first. There is nothing that you can do outside of Israel that you can do here at home.

Nancy,
August 6, 2014 10:00 PM

To Scott--I started learning Hebrew a few months ago, and I find it to be a challenge. No, I certainly am NOT giving up on it just because it is difficult. With time, practice and patience I will one day become fluent in Hebrew.

scott,
August 8, 2014 6:57 AM

Hebrew isn't easy.

We made aliyah with poor Hebrew. It was a costly mistake for us because when we arrived we had to start working and could not attend ulpan. Its been two years and we are still paying for that mistake. Hebrew has been hard to pick up. Thats why i put it as number one on the get ready list. I think one should make it a huge priority as soon as you even start thinking of aliyah. I wish I had. I had the time...just did other things instead.

Good luck and keep working.

sharona,
August 8, 2014 10:42 AM

Aliya and learning hebrew to able to speak there is good idea. They are a teen though and so they would need to influence their parents, which they could try to do. In the mean time, their prayer and good deeds is what they can do now. And hopefully the teen and family will make Aliya G-d willing

(1)
Nancy,
August 4, 2014 11:04 AM

Dear Lauren Roth--Thank you for printing out your most helpful resource. I previously tried to get onto that site, but alas had some problems in doing so. I will go back there again shortly. Perhaps the site itself was having problems while I was logging on. In any event, I appreciate all of your columns.

Since honey is produced by bees, and bees are not a kosher species, how can honey be kosher?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The Talmud (Bechoros 7b) asks your very question! The Talmud bases this question on the principle that “whatever comes from a non-kosher species is non-kosher, and that which comes from something kosher is kosher.”

So why is bee-honey kosher? Because even though bees bring the nectar into their bodies, the resultant honey is not a 'product' of their bodies. It is stored and broken down in their bodies, but not produced there. (see Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 81:8)

By the way, the Torah (in several places such as Exodus 13:5) praises the Land of Israel as "flowing with milk and honey." But it may surprise you to know that the honey mentioned in the verse is actually referring to date and fig honey (see Rashi there)!

In 1809, a group of 70 disciples of the great Lithuanian sage the Vilna Gaon, arrived in Israel, after traveling via Turkey by horse and wagon. The Vilna Gaon set out for the Holy Land in 1783, but for unknown reasons did not attain his goal. However he inspired his disciples to make the move, and they became pioneers of modern settlement in Israel. (A large contingent of chassidic Jews arrived in Tzfat around the same time.) The leader of the 1809 group, Rabbi Israel of Shklov, settled in Tzfat, and six years later moved to Jerusalem where he founded the modern Ashkenazic community. The early years were fraught with Arab attacks, earthquakes, and a cholera epidemic. Rabbi Israel authored, Pe'at Hashulchan, a digest of the Jewish agricultural laws relating to the Land of Israel. (He had to rewrite the book after the first manuscript was destroyed in a fire.) The location of his grave remained unknown until it was discovered in Tiberias, 125 years after his death. Today, the descendants of that original group are amongst the most prominent families in Jerusalem.

When you experience joy, you feel good because your magnificent brain produces hormones called endorphins. These self-produced chemicals give you happy and joyful feelings.

Research on these biochemicals has proven that the brain-produced hormones enter your blood stream even if you just act joyful, not only when you really are happy. Although the joyful experience is totally imaginary and you know that it didn’t actually happen, when you speak and act as if that imaginary experience did happen, you get a dose of endorphins.

These chemicals are naturally produced by your brain. They are totally free and entirely healthy.

Many people find that this knowledge inspires them to create more joyful moments. It’s not just an abstract idea, but a physical reality.

Occasionally, when I walk into an office, the receptionist greets me rudely. Granted, I came to see someone else, and a receptionist's disposition is immaterial to me. Yet, an unpleasant reception may cast a pall.

A smile costs nothing. Greeting someone with a smile even when one does not feel like smiling is not duplicity. It is simply providing a pleasant atmosphere, such as we might do with flowers or attractive pictures.

As a rule, "How are you?" is not a question to which we expect an answer. However, when someone with whom I have some kind of relationship poses this question, I may respond, "Not all that great. Would you like to listen?" We may then spend a few minutes, in which I unburden myself and invariably begin to feel better. This favor is usually reciprocated, and we are both thus beneficiaries of free psychotherapy.

This, too, complies with the Talmudic requirement to greet a person in a pleasant manner. An exchange of feelings that can alleviate someone's emotional stress is even more pleasant than an exchange of smiles.

It takes so little effort to be a real mentsch.

Today I shall...

try to greet everyone in a pleasant manner, and where appropriate offer a listening ear.

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Rabbi Twerski's new book Twerski on Machzor makes Rosh Hashanah prayers more meaningful. Click here to order...